Whitman foresees close election

Oct. 30, 2010

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Republican candidate for governor Meg Whitman signs autographs for supporters after a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning before heading to a midday rally in San Diego County. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Republican candidate for governor, Meg Whitman waves to a crowd at the Orange County fairdrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning. California state senator Mimi Walters, candidate for treasurer claps in the background. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Republican candidate for governor, Meg Whitman speaks to a crowd of about 400 supporters at a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning. The rally was Whitman's 44th campaign visit to Orange County. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Meg Whitman campaigned for governor Saturday at the Orange County fairgrounds ahead of Tuesday's election. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Republican candidate for governor Meg Whitman holds 1-year-old Sophia Casillas of Newport Beach at a Saturday morning campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Republican candidate for governor Meg Whitman waves to supporters at a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa Saturday morning. Whitman was also going to appear in San Diego County and Sacramento later in the day. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Meg Whitman supporters K.V. Kumar, left, and Joseph Kung lead the crowd in a cheer from the stands at a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A supporter holds a sign for Republican candidate for governor Meg Whitman at a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning. About 400 people came out to hear Whitman speak. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Republican candidate for governor, Meg Whitman made a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning. Supporters cheered, waved signs and lined up to shake her hand and pose for photos. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Republican candidate for governor Meg Whitman pauses during her speech at a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday. Her morning stop in Orange County included a 6-minute speech. SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Republican candidate for governor Meg Whitman signs autographs for supporters after a campaign stop at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning before heading to a midday rally in San Diego County.SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

"This is going to be a close election," Whitman told 400 enthusiastic supporters at the Orange County Fairgrounds. "We have the chance to show the rest of the United States that the Golden State is the comeback state."

Most of the polls published in the past week give Democratic former Gov. Jerry Brown a 7- to 10-percentage-point lead over Whitman, the former eBay CEO. But Whitman insisted that the contest is really a dead heat and that "we are going to win this race on Tuesday."

"In three more days, we are going to start the process of bringing more good jobs to California," Whitman said. "Jerry Brown has been part of the war on jobs for 40 years."

Whitman claimed that former Gov. Gray Davis had said that "Jerry Brown's only idea is to go to the voters this spring for a tax increase."

Actually, Davis told the Sacramento Bee Wednesday that "the next governor will have to have a special election" because temporary tax hikes are expiring. Davis, a Brown supporter and Brown's one-time chief of staff, said he was speaking for himself.

Whitman also promised to fix the state's schools.

"It is not OK that so many of our kids are in failing schools," Whitman said. "I will take on the bosses of the California Teachers Association."

The fairgrounds rally was Whitman's 44th campaign visit to Orange County. She easily won the county in the June primary, getting almost 90,000 more votes in her contested primary than Brown did against token opposition.

Whitman addressed the crowd for six minutes, then shook hands, autographed "Meg 2010" thundersticks and posed for photos for another 30 minutes. She then left for a noontime rally in northern San Diego County, another GOP stronghold. She was to finish the day in Sacramento.

Three other statewide Republican candidates attended the rally – Treasurer candidate Mimi Walters, a state senator from Laguna Niguel, along with Insurance Commissioner candidate Mike Villines of Fresno County and Controller candidate Tony Strickland of Ventura.

Voters attending the rally said they liked Whitman's policies – and loathed Brown.

"I don't want Brown getting in," said Ann Williams of Anaheim. "He is not a supporter of Prop. 13."

"Brown shut down freeway construction in this state," Yorba Linda resident David Smith said. "I am a civil engineer, so I know what he did to this state because it cost us billions of dollars."

Newport Beach resident Kirsten Casillas – holding 1-year-old daughter Sophia, who was wearing a gray elephant hat – said, "I really like her position on being really focused on bringing jobs back to California. ... I would vote for her if she were a man, but I think it's amazing that she's a woman."

Carly Fiorina, the GOP hopeful in the U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer, also stopped briefly in Orange County on Saturday.

At a retirement community in the Orange County enclave of Seal Beach, Fiorina told about 250 people that she would try to make government more responsive to the needs of business and would cut government spending. For example, she called on eliminating all congressional earmarks, calling them “a corrupting influence.”

“The federal government has grown every year for 60 years. Every year it spends more money,” Fiorina said. “We have to get it under control. Otherwise, we are bankrupting our children and our grandchildren.”

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